Irwin's friend and business manager, John Stainton, said 'quite a few people' from the entertainment industy had volunteered to perform at the event.Ī private service was held for Irwin on Saturday at his family's zoo. 'Steve, as we all know, was all for preserving the future.'Ī Queensland government spokesman said the mutilations would be investigated as possible cases of animal cruelty, but they were not initially thought to be related to Mr Irwin's death.Ī memorial service for Steve Irwin is expected to be held next Wednesday in Brisbane's Suncorp stadium.

'They are taking advantage of Steve and using the spurs as jewellery,' he said. Mr Gulbrandson said he believed someone had removed the tails and barbs from the fish to sell as mementos after Irwin's death. Mal Gulbrandson, 59, from Queensland, told the Sydney Morning Herald he had seen nine stingrays lying on Dundowran beach last Friday with their tails cut off. His death has prompted outpourings of grief in Australia and across the world, and some believe it may have triggered a demand for stingray souvenirs. Steve Irwin died when a stingray barb pierced his chest while he was swimming with the creatures on the Great Barrier Reef last week. 'I hope everyone understands we have to protect wildlife now more than ever. That's the last thing Steve would want,' he said. 'We just want to make it very clear that we will not accept and not stand for anyone who has taken a form of retribution. Michael Hornby, the executive director of Irwin's conservation group, Wildlife Warriors, said he feared the rays were being hunted and killed in retaliation for the TV star's death. The fact that the tails and barbs of several of the animals were lopped off has environmentalists worried. Officials from the department of primary industries and fisheries say two of the dead stingrays were not the victims of revenge attacks, but they have been unable to determine the cause of death of at least another nine.

Is steve irwin death footage available